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handy

Pronunciation: /ˈhæn.di/

The English word “handy” has 9 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Easy to use, useful.
  2. Nearby, within reach.
  3. Dexterous, skilful. (of a person)
  4. Physically violent; tending to use one's fists.
  5. Of a freight ship: having a small cargo capacity (less than 40,000 DWT); belonging to the handysize class.

noun

  1. The hand.
  2. A handgun.
  3. A hand job.
  4. (mostly used by Germans) Synonym of mobile phone.

Etymology

From Middle English handy, hondi (attested in personal names), alteration of earlier hendi (“handy, skillful”), from Old English *hendiġ (“skillful”) (attested in listhendiġ (“skilled in art”)), from Proto-West Germanic *handīg, *handag, *handug, from Proto-Germanic *handugaz (“handy, skillful, nimble”), from *handuz (“hand”), equivalent to hand + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian jäntich…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.